Day: October 5, 2017

Fall Week 5: October 2-6

Art

Torn Paper Apple

Cut out an apple shape from white construction paper. Just freehand it the best you can. You can make it small or big, but just remember a bigger space to fill in can seem overwhelming to a toddler or a preschooler. I would recommend a medium sized apple.

Collect either red or green construction paper, whichever your child prefers, and bottle of glue or glue stick and you are ready to go.

Your child can tear up the colored paper into small pieces. Once they get the hang of it, tearing paper is really fun for kids, but it does take a lot of fine motor strength. If your child is having trouble ripping the paper, get some spots started for them to make it a little easier. Show your child how to use the glue then to stick on the colored construction paper pieces to “color” their apple. This is a good activity combo of different fine motor work and artistic expression.

Stuff to Have

White and red/green construction paper

Glue or glue stick

Developing Skills

Artistic expression, fine motor, colors, gluing

Fine Motor

Pipe Cleaner Colander

Pull out your kitchen colander and some pipe cleaners. Let your child poke the pipe cleaners through the holes of the colander giving them a great fine motor workout!

Stuff to Have

Colander

Pipe cleaners

Developing Skills

Fine motor

Problem Solving

I find it fun to include activities that for the most part fall within the season we are in. We don’t have a fall puzzle, so I decided it should be easy enough to make one. If you don’t want to make a puzzle, no problem. Just do some of the puzzles that you have together. To make our puzzle I freehanded 4 different colored and different shaped pumpkins (you could also do leaves or apples if you want to keep it in the fall theme). I cut out the 1st 4 pumpkins and traced each of them on the same color paper. So, my result was 2 of each color of mathcing pumpkin. Then, I glued one of each color onto a sheet of paper, and the other 4 pumpkins are left to match up for the puzzle. Whether you are doing your own puzzle or this fall puzzle be interactive and encouraging. If your child becomes frustrated give them some hints- this isn’t a test!

Stuff to Have

8 pumpkins (4 different shapes/sizes, 4 different colors)

1 Piece construction paper

Glue

Developing Skills

Problem solving, follow through

Early Science & Math

Pumpkin Patch Match

Prep your paper pumpkins in various shapes and sizes. Have between 3 and 5 of each color and several different sizes. You can lay out the pumpkins and your child can match pumpkins based on size and/or color.

Stuff to Have

Developing Skills

Early math, color recognition, fine motor

Cooking & Baking

Donut Hole Acorns

To make about 10 donut hole acorns, melt about 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips in the microwave. Do 30 second increments at half power and stir in between. Once those are melted, grind about 1/4 cup peanuts in a food processor (if you don’t have a food processor you could just chop the nuts finely).

Now your child can dip the top of the donut holes into the chocolate first and then in the chopped peanuts.. I tell my kids to just put a hat on the donut hole. Set the “acorns” on parchment paper, and then in the refrigerator to completely cool. And that is it! You have cute little, edible, donut hole acorns!

Stuff to Have

Donut holes

1/4-1/2 c. Chocolate chips

1/4 c. Peanuts

Developing Skills

Fine motor, sensory, early science, early math, communication

Each day we try to also include large muscle movement, lot’s of book reading, and music and rhymes. These three things are some of the more important things, in my opinion, to include. Large muscle movement builds your child’s coordination, balance, and movement ability (ie. practice makes perfect), but it also is busy building brain connections, and without a doubt I believe my kids are better behaved when they get their whole body moving! Try things like, running, jumping, climbing, throwing & kicking a ball, tossing leaves that have fallen, going for a walk, riding a trike, or creative fun like a bear crawl or a crab walk.

Reading books is essential for language development. Mix up the books you have by picking up some seasonal books from the library. And if you’re sick of reading the same book over and over, change it up every now and then. You don’t have to stick to the written words. With toddlers especially, it isn’t necessarily about reading all of the words, it’s more about letting them experience the book, point out what you see in pictures, connect it to their life, ask questions, and let them take the lead!

Finally, music and rhymes is also an important and fun element to add to your day to build language development. It’s as easy as looking up some different fall themed songs and rhymes to add to your day. Or if you want to keep it simple, try songs to transition from toy to toy, use a clean up song, or a song during bath time.